This is a great start but I think the most important of the many nuances is that lawful doesn’t mean governmental, and chaotic doesn’t mean anarchic.
A king who acts purely on whim with no consistency to the rule of law, even if there are supposed to be rules to follow, is chaotic
A paladin who follows an ancient code passed down through a single master/apprentice relationship for generations is Lawful
I’ve always seen it as: lawful = there is a higher authority to which the character is committed, even if they’re the only one committed to it. Chaotic =acting only/mostly with your own purpose at heart, even if that is wrapped up in a lawful-looking package.
tl;dr: chaotic characters can use legal systems, and powerful characters can be fiercely independent
I agree!! I tried to parse my own comment as “hey this is a big fat opinion soup” just because the alignment chart is highly debated and often forgone entirely as too restrictive. Lots of motivations that buck the chart entirely.
This is a great start but I think the most important of the many nuances is that lawful doesn’t mean governmental, and chaotic doesn’t mean anarchic.
A king who acts purely on whim with no consistency to the rule of law, even if there are supposed to be rules to follow, is chaotic
A paladin who follows an ancient code passed down through a single master/apprentice relationship for generations is Lawful
I’ve always seen it as: lawful = there is a higher authority to which the character is committed, even if they’re the only one committed to it. Chaotic =acting only/mostly with your own purpose at heart, even if that is wrapped up in a lawful-looking package.
tl;dr: chaotic characters can use legal systems, and powerful characters can be fiercely independent
I agree!! I tried to parse my own comment as “hey this is a big fat opinion soup” just because the alignment chart is highly debated and often forgone entirely as too restrictive. Lots of motivations that buck the chart entirely.